Collalto cellars at Susegana

In the past 10 years, prosecco has risen from relative obscurity to one of the best-selling sparkling wines on the US market. Massive advertising from the large wine suppliers and distributors certainly contributed to the success. The idea was to save money by trading down from Champagne. But is the consumer really getting a bargain? Most prosecco is produced on a very large, industrial scale resulting in a less-than-exciting product. For that reason, in this case, only the best will do; that name is (all wine professional agree) Collalto.

Azienda Agricola Conte Collalto is one of the oldest and most influential winemaking estates in Northeast Italy. Collalto’s family roots date back as far as 958 AD. In that year, Berengarius II, King of Italy, leased to Count Rambaldo I, illustrious ancestor of the Collalto family, the contea (county) of Lovadina, with all of its fields, pasturelands, woods and vineyards.

Castello San Salvatore, Collalto

For over a thousand years, the Collalto family has tenaciously preserved its agricultural patrimony, through countless political seasons and wars, and ever-changing social systems and fashions. Pincess Isabella Collalto is currently at the reins of the estate.

Our ABC wine team has visited the Collalto estate on numerous occasions. This is not an ordinary winery: the Conte Collalto estate is an ecological oasis without peer among all the ecosystems of northern Italy. Its 150 hectares (371 acres) of vineyards are harmoniously surrounded by magnificent, centuries-old olive trees, dense woods, fields and grazing pastures, where cattle and horses, woodcocks, pheasants, hare and boar reign undisturbed. Significant investments over the years have helped to preserve the natural environment by applying only the most appropriate forms of land conservation and sustainable farming.

Isabella Collalto and family

The Conte Collalto estate vineyards currently yield about 850,000 bottles, of which 550,000 are Prosecco Superiore Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG. Conte Collalto produces wine exclusively from its own estate-grown grapes and performs every step from grape-growing to vinification and bottling in its historic cellars at Susegana.

The Glera grape--the main variety of proseccos--represents the heart of Conte Collalto’s wine production. Full 160 acres of the estate’s 371 acres of vineyard are dedicated to this noble variety. Prosecco is made with a minimum of 85% of the Glera (prosecco) grape and, up to a maximum amount of 15%, of Verdiso, Bianchetta, Perera and Glera Lunga.

Currently available at ABC Fine Wine & Spirits are the Prosecco Superiore Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG Brut ($17.99) and Extra Dry ($15.99). Other favorites and best-selling wines from Collalto are the Spumante Rosé ($18.69), the Pinot Grigio ($13.89) and the Cabernet Sauvignon ($29.99).

Salute!

Atanas Nechkov, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits wine supervisor

Follow me on Twitter @abcwineatanas